Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned

During the year, I have worked on several initiatives tied to my internship plan.  Activity12d involved working with a team of teachers to develop a plan for improving test scores.  I chose to work with a group of elementary teachers to write a plan for improving the campus math scores.  In Activity 7d, I met with teachers to discuss the implementation process of our district curriculum and the successes and problems/concerns with the implementation.  In Activity 14b, I had to locate and analyze the district’s staff development plan.  In EDLD 5387, we were asked to develop a plan for our district.  Through each of these experiences and many more throughout the school year, I have learned many lessons and thought about many recommendations I would make to improve our district.

From the first activity, I learned that writing the plan is probably the easiest part of the process.  Implementing all the different steps and completing all the planned activities is much more difficult.  As with most plans, there were some obvious things that we knew would have to be included, such as additional staff development and following our curriculum closely.  Other steps were harder to follow consistently.  Weekly meetings sounded great on paper, but finding time week after week wasn’t always easy.  The same applied to disaggregating data.  We all agreed it was important, but time was always an issue.  Overall, it was a good experience which led to my current recommendation.  The teachers felt that the one thing missing was time.  We concluded, as a group, that providing more minutes of instructional time for math would make a huge impact.  The one addition to our plan would be to find ways to maximize instructional time, whether by lengthening the day or eliminating other distractions.

From the second activity, I learned that implementing a campus or district curriculum can be a very difficult process.  Looking back, I can see several steps that we could have probably handled better.  First, we did not involve teachers in the selection process.  If teachers are not allowed input in key decisions, it is hard to expect them to buy in without a struggle.  In this case, the CScope curriculum was chosen by the superintendent and handed over to a new principal to implement.  Teachers were given no input and very little warning.  A second mistake was trying to implement only part of the curriculum and not all.  By trying to combine the new curriculum with the old, we ended up with a great lack of consistency which has plagued us ever since.  My recommendation to correct the situation is to fully implement the curriculum and require all teachers to let go of previous strategies (including lessons and textbooks) and embrace the curriculum in its entirety.  I believe that this is the only way to solve our problems with continuity and consistency.

From the third activity and the signature assignment from EDLD 5387, I learned much about staff development planning.  In examining the staff development plan for the district, it was obvious that we were spending a lot of time on things that did not necessarily address our district’s biggest concerns.  We were also not listening to teachers and valuing their input regarding professional development.  I also learned a lot in developing the plan for EDLD 5387.  It was interesting to think about all the different elements of the total plan.  Costs, methods of delivery, and other considerations are not always thoroughly examined.  My final recommendation is based on what I learned in these activities.  I do believe that we need to get away from the more traditional forms of “sit and get” workshops and move more toward staff development that is individualized and very specifically tailored.  Overall, I think the activities I have completed have taught me a great deal and prepared me in many ways for the challenges of being a district leader.